Kolkata: Residents of Assam and Meghalaya would not be required to submit Aadhar cards for getting benefits under Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Saturday.

"For Assam and Meghalaya, Aadhar cards will not be required for getting enrolled in the PMUY," the petroleum and natural gas minister said at a meeting of DNOs (district nodal officers) of the eastern states here.

He said 82% of LPG connections have been linked with Aadhar card.

"We are making efforts to bring the remaining 18 per cent in its fold," Pradhan said at the meet which was also attended by IOC chairman B Ashok and joint secretary (marketing) oil ministry Ashutosh Jindal.

Pradhan claimed that since the launch of the PMUY project, 23 lakh BPL households have got "free connections" in the states where it had been rolled out since May 1.

He said the project would be launched in West Bengal before August 15.

In the budget for 2016-17, the government had allocated Rs 8,000 crore to provide LPG connections to five crore BPL women in three years.

The selection of the BPL women would be done from the Socio-Economic Caste Census-2011. Several DNOs complained that many women, despite being in the BPL category, did not figure in the SECC list.

“To save the environment and to fight climate change, my government has planned a major campaign. By 2022, we want to generate 175 GW of renewable energy. In the last three years, we have already achieved 60 GW or around one-third of this target,” he said.